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My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

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fused
Moderator Emeritus

Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?



thick wrote:
I am just going to pay the **bleep** thing off tomorrow.  Now I become the collection agency, funny how that works huh?  They are settling for $1100 less but didn't want to give me a receipt.  I demanded a receipt as proof of payment or no payment would be paid.  They said they would give me a receipt at the time of payment.  Can they have payments deleted off of my CR, they are saying it's illegal to do that.


I wouldn't pay a cent without a PFD agreement in writing on the CAs letterhead.  Here's the link
 
Message 11 of 24
Anonymous
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Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

man, listen to fused!  dont let this bad mark stay on your credit!
Message 12 of 24
Anonymous
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Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

I took a PFD letter with me this morning, when I went to go pay.  The CA refused to accept the letter.  I told them, I would not settle the account with them (I had the cash with me) if they would not take it off of the credit report.  They said it was company policy not to delete from the credit report, so I left and did not pay them.  I hope this does not hurt my chances of getting a good deal on a home loan.
Message 13 of 24
Anonymous
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Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?



thick wrote:
I took a PFD letter with me this morning, when I went to go pay.  The CA refused to accept the letter.  I told them, I would not settle the account with them (I had the cash with me) if they would not take it off of the credit report.  They said it was company policy not to delete from the credit report, so I left and did not pay them.  I hope this does not hurt my chances of getting a good deal on a home loan.


thick,
 
I don't think you're getting it. This isn't your debt as it's not in your name. Disputing it is the best way to fight this. Paying it is like pleading guilty to a misdemeanor because "you just want it all to go away". It ain't gonna just go away.
 
You should DV the CA. Get them to show you owe this. If you didn't sign for it, then they cannot validate it.
 
There are consumer lawyers who like taking cases like this on contingency.
 
Message 14 of 24
Anonymous
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Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

Step 1 - DV the CA.
Step 2 - Dispute this item with each CRA it is reported to.
Step 3 - If you don't get the item removed quickly, consider submitting complaints about the CA to other agencies such as BBB and see if that gets a response.
Step 4 - Save every written piece of information regarding this debt, and document every conversation you can remember that you had with your brother, the OC and the CA. Try to get a written admission from your brother if you haven't already. Put together a nice chronological summary of events.
Step 5 - If this problem is still unresolved when you start house-hunting, discuss it with lenders and/or mortgage brokers you are considering, and see what their response is. It's possible that submitting the summary may be sufficient, and they might not require you to pay the bogus collection as a condition of the mortgage. Usually, the lender's main concern is that an unresolved collection may evolve into a lawsuit and result in a lien on the property. In your case, that seems fairly unlikely, and hopefully the lender or broker would agree.
Message 15 of 24
Anonymous
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Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

Thanks, this is great advice.
Message 16 of 24
Anonymous
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Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

the most important thing you can do, as i mentioned before, is to try to get a written admission from your brother.  dont come off as the policeman when you do it, but try to get it.  if you cant, get him to admit it in front of an independent witness. 
 
people open utility accounts for family members all the time, but with this admission, you are in much, much better shape to argue that this is not one of those situations.
Message 17 of 24
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

I did not pay it due to the fact they didn't even want to show me proof there was a bill in my name , let alone the pay for delete letter.  They said it was against there company policy to delete things off of accounts.  My brother is going to send me a notorized letter stating the electric bill was supposed to be in his name when I left Maryland, and will send it to me 2nd day air tomorrow.  They didn't even want to give me a receipt for the amount of $1575.62 .  Who would just give somebody that much money without a receipt?  I also took a witness in with me today for the fact of the pay for delete letter they refused to agree on.  Now What?
Message 18 of 24
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

you need to dv this immediately.  and contact your state atty general's office if you have additional problems.
Message 19 of 24
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: My brother ran up a bill in my name and the credit agency is coming after me ?

Yes, definitely dispute this. What your brother did was technically a crime. You shouldn't have to pay for it...and you don't have to.
Message 20 of 24
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